Snowy Halloween.
Montreal weather is weird. I love its weirdness. It might still be October but last night it snowed for the first time this winter (er ...shouldn't that be Fall?)
Today I got up late to see that virtually all of the snow we walked home in last night had melted in our neighbourhood. Next door's cat was sitting on the garden furniture as if none of this had happened. Let's go for a walk in Mount Royal Cemetery on the mountain, I announce. I had imagined a nice stroll on the grass, taking in the late Fall colours, which still refuse to leave the trees. Things didn't quite work out that way.
Now to get to the Montreal "mountain", as the locals call it, you drive over Westmount mountain (I know it's beginning to sound like the Himalayas.
Don't mention it in public but these are really just big hills). Mount Royal might only be 232 metres above sea level but it turns out there is a different climate up there.
Today it was covered in thick snow. We even saw our first cross-country ski tracks. Here they are.....
Some hardy Montrealer was probably up there at 7 o clock this morning and is bragging about it now in the pub. There can't be many cities where you can climb a mountain, ski and be home before breakfast.
Now I'm just off to check on my winter boot situation............
Looks gorgeous, but kindly make most of it melt before late Feb please! My own winter boot situation is fairly feeble.
ReplyDeleteJools
ReplyDeleteI have two words for you. Thermal underwear.
Hi Anne, I am loving these reminders of life in Canada. I also recognise this cemetery. My mother grew up in Montreal and I'm positive she lived in a house opposite the place as we visited it a couple of years ago and I also took similar pictures (would have been November time also). I distinctly remember the lovely cathedral around the corner (Montreal's main church - the name escapes me!)... lots of memories. Enjoy the white winter ahead! Cheers, Russell
ReplyDeleteThanks Russell -I think you might mean St. Joseph's Oratory which you can see from so many points around the city - even from the air as you fly in over the mountain. I love that view. The cemetery is on the mountain - there are Catholic, Protestant and Jewish areas. We found the graves of some of my husband's family there and only later realised we had visited on the 19th anniversary of his grandmother's death. By the way the snow has all melted and it's sunny again. Typical Montreal.
ReplyDeleteI stumbled on this blog totally by accident. Thank you for these photos. It brings me back, as a native Montrealer living overseas.
ReplyDeleteI remember my first Halloween snow in 1992. My girlfriends and I were stomping through it in our costumes!
Hello in Hong Kong. You are not the first Montrealer abroad to visit here. Glad to have you. I love your city and I'll be giving regular updates on how its doing so you can keep an eye on it.
ReplyDeleteOff for a run in the sun while it lasts. We are having a beautiful Fall and it's 11C today. The snow melted quite quickly.